HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 1105

A NATION DIVIDED AND UNITED

CONTENTS

I. REGIONAL LIFESTYLES......................................... 2

Regional Lifestyles: The East and West ................ 3

Regional Lifestyles: The South ............................... 13

II. CIVIL WAR ................................................................... 22

Civil War: Division and Antagonism...................... 23

Civil War: Union Blockade and Hostilities........... 35

Civil War: Final Phase............................................... 43

III. RECONSTRUCTION .................................................. 51

Northern Influences .................................................. 52

Southern Reactions ................................................... 56

Author: Alpha Omega Staff

Editor: Alan Christopherson M. S.

Illustrations: Alpha Omega Staff

804 N. 2nd Ave. E., Rock Rapids, IA 51246-1759© MM by Alpha Omega Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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HISTORY 1105A NATION DIVIDED

During the years after the War of 1812, the population of the United States increased rapidly. Industryexpanded, agricultural production boomed, settlers began to move into new territories, roads and canalswere constructed over mountains and through dense forests, and the cry of “Manifest Destiny” could beheard across the nation.

Manifest Destiny was the idea that the citizens of the United States had a God-given right to extendtheir way of life from the Atlantic to the Pacific and that no physical barrier or human force could stop thesettlement of these lands. This idea became a prevalent thought in the minds of many United States cit-izens. The expansion into new territories across the continent was a direct link in the chain of events lead-ing to the Civil War.

Each time new territory was acquired by the United States, the troublesome question of slavery wasraised. Many people in the anti-slavery faction of the North and West persisted in thinking that slaveryin the territories would result in the economic superiority of the South and the demise of free enterprise.The proslavery faction, in contrast, feared the destruction of the “Southern lifestyle” unless the balancebetween free states and slave states could be maintained.

The increase in universal white male suffrage was another factor that helped create the sectionalismthat paved the way for the war. After the Declaration of Independence, state laws in the thirteen statesstipulated that only white men with considerable property or those who paid high taxes were allowed tovote. These laws were still in effect after the War of 1812. Between 1816 and 1821 six new states wereadmitted to the Union that allowed all white men to vote without regard for property qualifications. Withthe addition of these new states, the eastern and southern states began to relax their voting restrictions;many men who had never shown an interest in politics began to participate in the elective process. For thefirst time the “common” man had the opportunity of electing people to office who would encourage the fed-eral government to adopt policies primarily beneficial to his sectional needs.

In the years following the War of 1812, the United States extended its boundaries from the Atlanticcoast to the Pacific coast. With this expansion came issues that divided one section of the nation fromanother. As the United States grew, the way of life changed from one section to another. Southern living,for example, was entirely different from that of the West or Northeast.

In this unit you will study the conditions of life in the East, theWest, and the South.You will also studythe Civil War and the reconstruction efforts after the war.

OBJECTIVES

Read these objectives. The objectives tell you what you will be able to do when you have successfullycompleted this LIFEPAC®.

When you have finished this LIFEPAC, you should be able to:

1. Describe the physical and sociological features of the South, the West, and the Northeast.

2. Define issues which caused the polarization of the nation prior to the Civil War.

3. Review both the Northern and the Southern views of these issues.

4. Identify the leading personalities of the Civil War era and explain the consequences of theiractions.

5. Identify generalizations about the effect of slavery on owners and slaves.

6. Define the strengths and weaknesses each side possessed in facing the Civil War.

7. Identify major battles of the war and how each victory or defeat contributed to the outcome ofthe war.

8. Outline effects of the war on the North and the South.

9. Examine the reconstruction efforts made after the Civil War.

10. Recognize that God is no respecter of persons and that we are all equal in His sight.

I. REGIONAL LIFESTYLES

SECTION OBJECTIVES

Review these objectives. When you have completed this section, you should be able to:

1. Describe the physical and sociological features of the South, the West, and the Northeast.

2. Define issues which caused the polarization of the nation prior to the Civil War.

3. Review both the Northern and the Southern views of these issues.

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Survey the LIFEPAC. Ask yourself some questions about this study. Write your questions here.

In this section and the next you will examine the prewar lifestyles of three regions and see how thesedifferences in lifestyle contributed to sectionalism and the problems that followed.

agrarian Organized or designed to promote agricultural interests

artisan One trained in some mechanical art or trade

drainage basin A land drained by a river and its tributaries

fall line Place where rivers descend in falls or rivers from a piedmont to a plain

growing season The period between the last killing frost in the spring and the first killingfrost in the fall

piedmont Hilly land at the foot of mountains

sod Soil filled with the roots of grass, herbs, and so forth

VOCABULARY

Study these words to enhance your learning success in this section.

Note: All vocabulary words in this LIFEPAC appear in boldface print the first time they are used. If you are unsure of the meaning when you arereading, study the definitions given.

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REGIONAL LIFESTYLES: THE EAST AND WEST

Life in the East. In 1850 more than half of the factories in the United States werelocated in the Northeast with two-thirds of the nation’s production value centered in thatregion. The Northeast was unsuitable for large-scale farming because of the mountainousterrain and the short growing season—only three months in some places. However, therough, rocky mountains with rivers coursing down their sides were an ideal source for thepower necessary to run the machinery in the new mills and factories of the buddingNortheastern textile industry. They also had a ready source of cotton in the south.

Because the growing season was short and the hard, rocky ground kept agriculturalproduction near the subsistence level, more people lived in the cities of the Northeast tofind work than in either the West or the South.

In the years preceding the Civil War, a new wave of immigrants came to the UnitedStates, fleeing the potato famine of 1845 and 1846 in Ireland. A few of the immigrantsremained in the southern entry ports of Charleston and New Orleans. However, the major-ity swelled the numbers in the northern cities where they found work in the factories. By1857 the number of factory workers had risen to 1.2 million, and the industrial labor forceto almost 1 million people working an average of sixty-eight to seventy-two hours a week.

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